Gibson Firebird Studio Non-Reverse

For its superb marriage of tonal versatility and revolutionary style, the non-reverse Firebird of the mid-to-late 1960s has long been a favorite with rock, blues and fusion players looking for an alternative to the mighty triumvirate of Les Paul, SG and ES-335. Now Gibson USA introduces the Firebird Studio Non-Reverse, a guitar with all the eye-catching style and flair of the original 1965-69 non-reverse-bodied Firebird III, enhanced with added sonic versatility to bolster its vintage-certified tones. Crafted from Grade-A tonewoods, loaded with three of Gibson's amazing new Tapped P-90 pickups (for both original fat P-90 tones and brighter, snappier "narrow single-coil" tones), and upgraded with stunning new five-way pickup switching, push-pull tap and phase switching, and a Tune-o-matic bridge with stopbar tailpiece, this is arguably the fiercest Firebird ever created.

Construction

Mahogany has a long and storied history as a Gibson tonewood, and it forms the core of the Firebird Studio Non-Reverse from Gibson USA. The guitar's body is crafted from solid Grade-A mahogany, and dressed in an authentic high-gloss nitrocellulose finish in Vintage Sunburst. Its quarter-sawn, Grade-A mahogany neck is carved to a thin (.800-.850) profile, glued in, and topped with a Grade-A rosewood fingerboard with 22 medium-jumbo frets and a 12" radius for smooth, choke-free bending. Beyond the PLEK-cut Corian nut, it carries a traditional "hawk's head" six-in-line headstock with high-quality Mini Grover kidney button tuners, while down at the body end a Tune-o-matic bridge and stopbar tailpiece--considerable upgrades from original components--help to ensure optimum resonance and sustain, while facilitating pinpoint intonation adjustments.

Electronics

With such a solid foundation beneath it, the piece de resistance of the Firebird Studio Non-Reverse's tonal arsenal lies in its complement of three great new Gibson pickups and hotrodded electronics to make the most of their sonic potential. A trio of Gibson USA's revolutionary new Tapped P-90 pickups provides all the fat snarl, crunch and bite that vintage P-90s are known for, with the option of a the brighter, twangier sound of a thinner single-coil pickup accessed via the push-pull switch on each pickup's independent volume control. They don't feature "split coil" switching, as used on humbucking pickups. The switch on each of these single-coil Tap P-90 pickups accesses a genuine tap wired into the coil windings of each unit, grounding off part of its output to produce a brighter, more focused tone when the switch is pulled. Combine this with the push-pull switch on the master tone pot, which puts the middle pickup out of phase when combined with either the bridge or neck unit, and five-way switching to access bridge/bridge+middle/middle/neck+middle/neck pickup selections (either tapped or full), the Firebird Studio offers an unprecedented tonal range.

Gibson Extras

Each guitar includes a Gibson hardshell case and owner's manual, and is covered by Gibson's Limited Lifetime Warranty and 24/7/365 Customer Service. Grab a slab of authentic '60s-inspired tone, with sky's-the-limit modern versatility.

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"A beautiful guitar that has it's quirks."

Overall:
I'll be honest, I really bought this guitar because I fell in love with the body style and matched with the Pelham blue color. I'll never get tired of admiring the shape, one of the best designs of all time, in my opinion.
Okay, let's get in to the sounds, or which there are many, possibly too many. A quick word about the pickups, I've read they are p100s and I've read they are split coil p90s. Well they can't be both but I know they aren't p90s because this sounds tame compared to a double-cut LP Jr. I had owned, which was fitted with a Gibson p90 pickup. That LP Jr had balls and a major bite that this guitar just lacks. If I throw this into the bridge pickup with the tone all the way up it can get close but there's something in it's personality that is missing.
The push/pull options are pretty useless to me. It takes everything I love about the p90 sounds and craps all over it, giving the guitar a sound that is thinner than Kate Moss, makes a Tele sound like a Les Paul. I may be tarred for this but I've already got p90 pickups on order, I'm going to change the 5-way toggle to a 3-way switch, ditch the push/pull nonsense and streamline the Firebird into a rock & roll machine.
The finish is fantastic, except for the symbol on the pickguard, a couple red splotches here and there but it's just a pickguard so I don't care. Much better job by Gibson on this guitar than on my LP Jr., which looked like it had a disease in some places because the yellow was so thin. The truss covers on these guitars is pretty ridiculous, essentially it's like a piece of cellophane. The tuners seem okay but tuning slips more than I'd like but I'm confident I can work that out without dropping more money on higher end tuning machines. I'll say it holds tune better than past Gibson guitars I've owned.
All in all everything seems very high quality and all changes will be made because I want my stripped down rock & roll player, not because I feel hardware or electronics will break down. 2 p90s, 3-way toggle, 2 vol / 2 tone speed knobs and this will be a dream to play.
Case is tough and huge, like the old Fender cases. No combo lock, you'll have to throw a little pad lock on there if you worry about your shady friends.

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"Blue bird"

Overall:
The fretboard is actually that "baked maple" stuff Gibson seems to be using a lot of, I'm sure it's cheaper, and the pickups are Tapped P90s, as per the gibson website...The finish on the my blue firebird is awesome; way better in person than any pic I saw. Massive sustain, and so damn many tonal options, really close to having too much, if that's a thing. I pushed my bridge pickup away from the strings cuz it was so hot, and as stock, I personally use the neck pickup and just push/pull for most of my tonal changes within the guitar. Love the neck, love the headstock, love how massive it is compared with my strat. Not many people play a firebird, and i get a lot of comments on how sweet it looks. That's cuz it *is* sweet!

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